Words can help

Learning goal: Choose words that encourage someone.

Prepare: One worksheet per child, pencils or crayons, and the linked book pages. A closed book can stand in for a device. No student account or device is needed.

Book connection: Cyber Safety Coloring & Activity Book Featuring Officer Quackers, PDF pages 19, 29. Numbers are PDF positions, including blank backs.

Teach the lesson

1. 3 min · Connect

   Ask: What could you say when a friend is learning something hard?

2. 4 min · Model and say

   Read page 19. Model: Good try. Would you like help? Use a gentle voice and explain that tone matters too.

3. 8 min · Practice together

   In pairs, practice encouraging a fictional child who loses a game or makes a drawing mistake. Page 29 provides a place to celebrate a kind phrase. Read the worksheet aloud and let children respond by pointing, speaking, circling, or drawing. Use optional coloring only if time allows.

4. 3 min · Discuss

   Invite two different responses. Ask: What would you do? Why could that help? Use the answer guide on the next page.

5. 2 min · Check understanding

   Ask for one kind sentence in a new scenario without showing the example.

Answers & follow-through

Worksheet guidance

1. A friend loses. Circle kind words.

   Good try.

2. Say a helpful phrase to a partner.

   Accept an encouraging equivalent; the friend can decline help.

3. Draw a moment when kind words help.

   Look for encouragement, not teasing disguised as a joke.

Check, then respond

Ask for one kind sentence in a new scenario without showing the example.

Mark your observation: □ Independent   □ With a prompt   □ Needs practice. If a child needs practice, demonstrate the same action again and offer a new example in the next class. This is a teaching check, not a safety certification.

Make it work for your learners

Support: Read aloud, point to two choices, model one response, and accept a gesture, spoken answer, drawing, or partner scribe. Do not require independent reading.

Extend: Ask the child to invent one new pretend situation for today’s goal and explain a safe response to a partner.

Family conversation

Invite your child to teach the family a kind phrase from class.

No personal information or signed homework needs to be returned.

Teacher care note

Use fictional situations. Do not collect passwords, addresses, or private experiences. Offer an alternative to role-play. If a child shares a concern, listen calmly, avoid public questioning, and follow school procedures.